TV Review: "Doctor Who" Christmas Special: Last Christmas

The rather long opening scene of “Last
Christmas” had me feeling very nervous. It felt off. The humor wasn’t hitting and the overall tone felt odd. Why
was Santa on Clara’s roof with two snarky Elves?

I was fearing that “Last Christmas” would
be the only Season 8 episode that I would flat out dislike after the abysmal
“In the Forest of the Night”. Luckily for me, after this opening scene, this
year’s annual Christmas Special took off with a pulpy sci-fi plot, fun side
characters, the patented Doctor Who creep factor and the usual top notch
performances from the main players. “Last Christmas” is easily the most
enjoyable Christmas Special after “A Christmas Carol”.

I don’t understand why I was so quick to
jump the gun on this episode based off of the opening scene. I mean this is Doctor Who were talking about. It’s also Moffat's Who, so wonkiness is to be expected. And wonky this adventure is.
Moffat decided to let loose and have fun here. “Last Christmas” is an unabashed
mash-up of iconic science fiction and horror films. The Specials monsters, the
Dream Crabs, are pretty much Face Huggers from the Alien franchise. The dream within a dream concept is very Inception and the desolate arctic setting
smacked ofJohn CarpentersThe Thing. Throw in The Doctor and
Santa Claus (played by a very enjoyable Nick Frost) and you have a recipe for
the most batshit Who episode in a
long time.

Considering this past season has been a
redemption of sorts for Moffat, all of these crazy ideas manage to tie
together rather well with only a few stray strands poking out instead of falling
apart like they easily could have. The numerous homages (a character flat out
mentions Alien in reference to the
Dream Crabs) feel appropriate to the story instead of just lazy callbacks meant
to carry the plot. They are done with affection and when he’s on, Moffat knows
how write a damn good yarn, and “Last Christmas” is a damn good yarn.

It was a
very pleasant surprise to see Moffat do a mindfuck story without timey-wimey
for a change.

The last act also delivers on the emotion
in a way I wasn’t expecting. As the episode was coming to a close I was
expecting to knock a point off thinking that Moffat wouldn’t address how The
Doctor and Clara left things with each other, but he did and he made their
resolution feel earned and not obligatory.

“Last Christmas” was an almost perfect
slice of Who. It gives us an
impressive balance of tone, humor, horror and character. The cast and effects
were up to par with the rest of the high quality stuff the production team has
given us this season, and overall it’s a great representation of the Who’s M.O. It’s a show that can go and
do anything it wants to. This year’s Special is one of the strongest examples
of this the shows had in a while. My only complaint is that Moffat takes the
dream within a dream concept just ONE step too far.

8/10. Overall, “Last Christmas”
is an energizing cap-off to a wonderful year of Doctor Who.